"China's land borders, shared with fourteen other nations, are the world's longest. Like all borders, they are not just lines on a map but also spaces whose histories and futures are defined by their frontier status. An ambitious appraisal of China's borderlands, Shifting Sands takes in the full...

"Ever since China and Vietnam resumed diplomatic contacts and reopened the border in 1991, the borderland region has come been part of the vibrant growing economies of both countries and drawn many from the interior provinces to the borderland for new economic adventures. This book examines...

Northern Laos has become a prominent spot in large-scale, top-down mappings and studies of neoliberal globalisation and infrastructural development linking Thailand and China, and markets further beyond. Yet in the common narrative, in which Laos appears as a weak victim helplessly exposed to...

1. Introduction -- 2. The intriguing Vietnam-China relationship and border encounters -- 3. Trade, business and borderland cultural economy -- 4. Chinese tourists, borderland tourism and joking relationships -- 5, Smuggling, gambling and borderland regulation -- 6. Sex tourism, gender politics...